Hot tea linked to increase cancer risk new study finds

Boiling hot tea could increase the risk of esophageal cancer for smokers and drinkers according to a new study.

The findings show a link between ‘hot’ tea and an increase in cancer of the esophagus in people who drink or smoke heavily.

The study, published by the Annals of Internal Medicine, defines heavy drinking as more than 15grams of alcohol per day, while heavy smoking is more than one cigarette per day.

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There were 456,155 participants (30 to 79 years old) monitored over the course of nine years for the study.

Participants had to rate their daily intake of tea by how hot is was. There was no connection found between hot tea and non-smokers.

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Speaking about the findings, researchers said: ‘Compared with participants who drank tea less than weekly and consumed fewer than 15g of alcohol daily, those who drank burning hot tea and 15g or more of alcohol daily had the greatest risk for oesophageal cancer.’

The lead professor Jun Lv added: ‘Drinking hot tea contributed to cancer only when it clustered with smoking and drinking alcohol excessively.’

The conclusion of the study advised heavy smokers and drinkers to avoid drinking hot or boiling tea to lesson the risk.

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However, in Ireland and England, we are more to add milk to our tea whereas in China, boiling tea is more commonly consumed, as Prof Andrew Sharrocks, from the University of Manchester told The Guardian.

He said: ‘We tend to drink tea at lower temperatures in the west than in China, which is less damaging to the oesophagus.

‘So, although the study might be relevant to populations in the China, it is less relevant in the west in terms of a causative factor.’